Rajya Sabha passes bill to provide education to disabled children

NEW DELHI: A bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha today to widen the beneficiary net for disabled children in Right to Education and provide those with severe disability the option of receiving education at home.

Moving the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2010, for consideration, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said it provides the right to receive home-based education to children with severe disabilities and dismissed criticism of the provision.

Sibal said, "It is a historic piece of legislation and will have a huge impact on quality education to children between classes 1 and 8 in the 6-14 age group."

"The Bill will change the way we look at education. You can have a legislation but it needs to be implemented," he said and called for involving key stake-holders, including children, parents, NGOs and schools and not just the government alone.

Winding up the debate on the bill, Sibal said he shared the concerns of the members against use of the word "disability" but said they wanted to ensure that the definition was tight and that there was no room for interpretation.

He said parents would have the option of providing home-based education to children with severe disabilities and said the clause should not be used as an instrument by institutions to deny admission.

Sibal hoped that concerns of members would be automatically addressed in the RTE Act once the Social Justice Ministry amends laws to include some more categories under the definition of disability.